CD1221

Stopped at my brother's house on the way home from work to borrow some toys to use during the build: 2 (!) belt sanders, 1 flat electric sander, 1 electric plane, lots of sandaper, dust mask, a seriously sharp spokeshave thingo and a set of surgically sharp palm carving tools. These last things are terrifyingly sharp. started work early today, roughed out my mdf templates for the body and headstock on the bandsaw. got them home and used the sanders to finish them off - first failure of the project. Now I know why people use spindle sanders. Even though I *thought* I was holding the timber vertical, I clearly didn't, so the template is sanded unevenly and an important section on the top horn has now been undercut. Can't save it. I made the same error on the headstock template. Nothing to do but rough out new ones, and investigate a better sanding method. It is not a complete waste - I will use the stuffed body template to create the rear control cavity template. learning experience #1 - ensure edge sanding happens at right angles.

That little "test" looks great! Can't wait to see the real thing finished.

hey there, minor update today. The nearly-last parts drops arrived together today: (grainy late-night phone camera photo...) sperzels and seymour arrived today, along with a set of strap buttons. The fret wire turned up late last week, so the only bit left to arrive is the graphtec nut. nearly finished with the rear deck reburbishment, so I will be kicking this baby off properly in the next week or so. I have already started to map out my templates onto some mdf, so the first job will be to finish those off. that's all for now, more to come soon.

After some playing with photoshop, I eded up with the following mock-up: this will require the filling of a couple ofsolid cracks in the knotthat I will hide under the bridge: any suggestions on recommended filling material? in other news: NSFOTOD (new stuff from over the ocean day) input jack, bunch of pickguard screw, neck screws, neck screw washers, string ferrules, push-push pots (these babies are long - I will have to watch the overall body depth) and 4+3 Gotoh tuners. Courtesy of Warmoth. I had a hell of a time locating a compay that would sell a 4+3 set of tuners. so I contacted a manufacturer and after a few initial emails and a phone call to give my visa details....they didn't reply to my follow-up emails... I figured that they were pretty busy and a single international sale for $70 wasn't that high on their list of things to do, so after a few weeks of no response I ordered these non-locking Gotohs from warmoth (They also sell individual locking tuners, but they specifically state that they won't fit baritone strings) ... Only to find 2 days later that the other company had just debited my account for my order... now I have 2 sets of 4+3 tuners. 14 string anyone?

Hey there people. I have been inspired by several great threads on here and learnt a lot, so I figured I might as well give building one a go. Hopefully this will result in a playable instrument. I will be using local timbers. anyway, on with the details: Specs: 7 strings (obviously) Neck: bolt on Tasmanian Blackwood Body: Tasmanian Blackwood Top: Blackhearted Sassafras Fretboard: Mulga Scale: 26.22" (the most metal scale) Bridge: Hipshot fixed Frets: 24 Body style: semi-original, "borrowed" heavily from several sources - Oni, Myka, blackmachine, ormsby, hufschmid Pickups: BKP Miracle Man bridge, Duncan SSL-5 neck Electronics: single push-push volume for pickup selection All of the parts have been ordered, only half have arrived so far. Blackwood body: Sassafras top: Mulga fretboard: Plans: That is the timber done. What I am undecided on, is how to use the top. I originally planned to lay it out like this: but these two alternatives also look good. Not sure now, opinions are welcome. The fretboard will basically have no markers, except I am toying with inlaying a styalised version of my initials at the twelfth fret, something like this mockup (of someone else's guitar...I can't remember whose it is.... apologies to the owner). That will probably do for now. I have a uni exam this week, so I won't get into this for a few days, but the goal is to have it completed mid January.

Hey there, I am about to start my first build and I can't seem to find any information on how much heel is necessary on a bolt on neck for stability. I understand that more is better than less, but bhow little can I get away with? It will be a 24fret 7 string build with a fairly extreme lower bout cut (I am borrowing rather heavily from an Oni design). The body joins the neck at around the 19th fret on the top bout and the 22nd fret at the lower bout. I currently have the round of the heel extending out to the 18th fret. Does this seem like enough for a solid join? I don't have a similar bolt on in my possession to compare it to - I have a set neck ibanez artcore and a heel-less Yamaha Pacifica 1221.

Been following htis build for a while, it is looking great. the above comment you made is completely true. guitars need a load to sound right. using the amp's inut resistor as the only load will make it bright as hell, and makes the cable contribute significantly more to the tone. I think you will find a marked difference with a pot in place.